Saturday, April 18, 2009

EvilBible.com Project, Part 1, Addendum

However, at some point, I think that we should go one step beyond saying that all men are sinners and deserving of death, to stating that it is a wonder that any of us have lived past our first breath out of the womb. The atheistic presupposition is that man is good and that God is unjust to take his life (through whatever means). The Biblical position is that as sinful human beings, we are all deserving of death. Given this, why hasn't God taken our lives already?

Thus, if we insist on pressing this antithesis, instead of merely trying to defend God against charges of evil and injustice (and stopping there), we then seek to understand and explain His mercy and His apparent delay of justice upon us. Not only does this leave the atheist totally without grounds to accuse God of injustice (on Biblical grounds), this also leads naturally into the Gospel.

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's good (and necessary) to show that the atheist is unfounded in accusing God of injustice. However, I don't think that we've done all that we can if we stop here, having won the defensive battle, and not having taken the offense. I think, to be glorifying to God, we need to take the next step and ask why God hasn't executed His judgment upon us already, and when we do that, not only do we see God as merely not evil, but we also see Him as infinitely merciful, loving, and good. Furthermore, we see His justice and mercy combined at the cross, so that God is both fully just and infinitely merciful in forgiving us of our sins. I don't know of any better way to glorify God while refuting the pretensions of unbelievers, with respect to issues of God's justice, goodness, and morality.